Disbalans
by Dream Kitten
Summary: Kakashi sees the members of Team 7 falling apart and strives to keep them grounded by any means necessary. Sort of AU in that Sasuke doesn't leave. Starts out dark but ends up fluffy.
1. Sasuke

Author's note: Here I am, posting my very first Naruto story from my phone. Why? Because when I sent this thing to my Beta RLnera for correction she called me in a panic asking me what sort of state of mid I had to be in to write this, if I was okay and if I needed to talk to someone.

So if there are any mistakes I missed I'm sorry, it'll get better once I calm my Beta down.

 **WARNINGS: PTSP,, underage sex( not graphic but heavily insinuated) survivor's guilt, and mind fuckery but in an attempt to help. If any of this bothers you like my Beta better turn around now.**

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The first time Kakashi had seen the cracks in his students they were but Genin with big eyes and even bigger dreams. He thought he had them figured out in the first ten minutes:

Naruto was so starved of love and attention that he would resort to any means of getting either. His smiles and his laughs and his blaringly orange clothes screamed for the latter and belayed the boy's hopes of getting the former in any capacity.

Sasuke was broken and traumatized by the death of his clan and was desperately trying to fix the hole in his chest Itachi had left him with, thinking that if he killed his brother, the cause of the wound, it would finally stop hurting.

Sakura was a girl so insecure in herself that she wanted Sasuke merely because she would then have confirmation that she wasn't lacking in what she was always told was a woman's most important attribute.

He would have never guessed that it would be this fractured team of a Jinchuriki, an Uchiha and a fan girl that would pass his test.

And yet they did.

He was still dubious of their success, and had even been willing to pass it off as Sasuke figuring out what the whole point of the test was and giving Naruto his lunch simply because he didn't want to go back to the academy. But when, during their first C rank mission, he had risked his life to protect his teammate from Haku's needles, Kakashi's doubts disappeared in a puff of smoke.

There was hope for them yet.

But Kakashi had realized he had spoken too soon at the Chuunin exams. No, it was when he had tried to counter Sasuke's cursed seal and Orochimaru said he didn't need to go after Sasuke, because the boy would come to him on his own. He had underestimated just how far Sasuke was willing to go for his revenge, how large that wound in his chest was.

On that outcropping, training Sasuke into the ground for his final match against Gaara, Kakashi finally confronted him.

"Why do you seek power Sasuke?" He had asked quietly, when he finally allowed his student to sit down and catch his breath.

"So I could kill that man." Came a prompt reply. "For revenge."

"And why do you believe you will stop hurting if you avenge them?"

That had startled the boy. Usually people assumed it was to avenge his clan's honor, that he was doing it for them. No one had ever insinuated that he was simply being selfish. That he was doing just so he could find some semblance of peace for _himself._

But what startled Sasuke was that his mentor was right.

His startled silence lasted long enough for Kakashi to get up and sit next to him. "You feel like they left a hole in your chest when they left, and it hurts, hurts so much you can just feel yourself going mad and if killing Itachi would make that pain stop then you think that whatever sacrifice you have to make to kill him is worth it."

"Stop it…!" Sasuke choked out.

"After all, you have lost everything you ever held dear right before your eyes. At this point giving up even your own body for that cause doesn't seem like such a high price, does it?"

"Shut up!" Now he stood on his shaking, tired legs, Sharingan spinning in his eyes.

"But what happens when you have had your revenge? What will you have left then, if you bartered everything worth having for the sake of power you will no longer have any use for?"

"SHUT UP!" The punch he threw at Kakashi was laced with sparks, but with his chakra so drained his mentor could barely feel any electricity as he caught the boy's fist in his own, then pulled so Sasuke's momentum sent him flying onto his lap and pinned his arms at his sides.

It took Sasuke full two seconds to realize he had been rendered immobile.

"Just because I'm saying exactly what you don't want to hear doesn't mean you shouldn't hear it." Kakashi said with such infuriating calm in his voice Sasuke doubled his struggles to get free. But his exhausted child body was no match for his mentor's adult one. "But it doesn't hurt all the time, does it?"

The struggles faltered. Kakashi continued.

"Perhaps you have felt it at Ichiraku's ramen, when Naruto is being obnoxiously competitive and Sakura is offering you her tomatoes? Or perhaps in battle, when you feel secure that you have someone to watch your back, and yet all the more determined to defeat your foe so they would no longer be in danger?"

The struggling stopped. Kakashi almost smiled. It seemed he had gotten somewhere after all.

"Take it from someone who knows a thing or two about revenge and loss." Kakashi softened his voice, more hugging Sasuke now than detaining him. "It will not abate the pain. It will only leave you hollow, wondering if there is any point left to your life now that your only reason for living is gone, and you will have nothing to go back to if you sacrifice your friends and anyone you may come to care about in the future on the altar of vengeance."

Sasuke's form slumped and his shoulders started shaking almost imperceptively. Almost. "No, I have to! Itachi- He said…" Then his struggling returned twofold. "You're lying! There is no forgiveness for the likes of me! An avenger doesn't need friend because all he has is himself and his power!"

Kakashi was so taken aback that Sasuke actually managed to squirm free for a second. But Kakashi caught him around the waist and spun him around to face him. He noticed that the boy's eyes were misty but not tearful.

"Is that truly how far his brainwashing went?" Kakashi murmured. "Is that what he told you that night?"

Sasuke tried to punch him again. Kakashi leaned to the side to avoid it then once again pinned Sasuke's arms at his sides. "It is, isn't it? You believe that there is nothing and nobody but yourself that could help you and that any little crack in that armor you built around yourself would simply be another way for your heart to get broken."

"No!" Sasuke screamed at his face. "It's my responsibility! Nobody helps those who cannot help themselves! I'm the only one left."

And Kakashi understood. He had seen such mindset before, in men trice Sasuke's age, and unfortunately he had gone drinking with those men, asked them how could they could live with the survivor's guilt like that, and the Uchiha might be too young for the answer. Nevertheless, with the threat of Orochimaru hanging over his head Kakashi was willing to risk it. If he was wrong he would probably push Sasuke to seek out Orochimaru sooner, in the process adding himself to the list of people he wanted dead. But if he was right…

"Such burden to bear… Wouldn't you like me to take it off your shoulders for a while?" Slowly, deliberately, not taking his eyes off Sasuke's face, Kakashi lowered his hands to Sasuke's hips and dug his thumbs in his hipbones. The boy's eyes widened and Kakashi could almost hear his heart speed up. But he didn't pull away.

Knowing he was right, but still with a heavy heart, Kakashi lowered Sasuke's hitai-ate over his eyes.

Kakashi hadn't so much as taken his gloves off the entire time, but he stripped Sasuke of every last stitch of clothing, except for his makeshift blindfold. His hands had fisted in the front of Kakashi's uniform and didn't let go the entire time. When his mentor's skilled hands brought him to completion he screamed for nobody to hear and buried his face in Kakashi's shoulder, panting wildly. Spent but taunt as a wire, Sasuke shuddered on the Jounin's lap as big and comforting hands stroked along his back, and he was quietly shushed into some semblance of calm.

Kakashi dressed him wordlessly, batting away Sasuke's hands when he tried to do it himself. Even when he could no longer feel Kakashi's hands on him Sasuke made no move to remove the Hitai-ate from obscuring his vision. Kakashi untied it himself, almost surprised to find Sasuke's eyes dry.

"No one will know." Kakashi's words, spoken bluntly, managed to ease the last of the tension in Sasuke's shoulders.

They went to the arena, where Sasuke was to face Gaara, without a single word spoken.

Kakashi knew it wasn't enough, but the seed had been planted. But it was given barely two days to grow its roots before Itachi came to Konoha. Then Itachi managed to beat them both into a coma, and that was not even taking into account how much damage his words and the fact that he had come looking for Naruto had done to Sasuke.

And a week later, after Naruto had used his unpredictability skills to drag Tsunade from her drinking and gambling ways back to Konoha to heal his friend (and to become Hokage, but Naruto's priorities were stacked rather differently), Sasuke woke to Sakura hugging him and Naruto telling him what and idiot he was and that he wasn't allowed to die before the blond had beaten him at the peak of his strength.

Sasuke looked at them, truly looked at them perhaps for the first time, and remembered Kakashi's words. But they were overshadowed by the feelings of inferiority. Sasuke had spent his entire life feeling inferior to Itachi, and now that Jiraya had fixed Naruto's seal the blond was improving at a far faster rate than him.

He needed to prove, at least to himself, that he wasn't inferior.

He was so blindsided by that need that he and Naruto had almost killed Sakura right on the roof of the hospital. Had Kakashi not thrown them at the water tanks she wouldn't have survived.

He had gone to sulk on the branch of a nearby tree when he was suddenly wrapped in wires. He had struggled, both against his bindings and the memories of a similar occurrence.

"Past experience suggests you aren't exactly the type to listen quietly while I preach, and I can't have you running away now can I?" Kakashi admonished mildly. Sasuke just glared venomously at him.

"Sasuke," The scarecrow knelt in front of his prey and looked him long and hard in the eye, "remember what I told you back then?" Sasuke didn't answer but the look in his eyes confirmed it. He exploded.

"Don't preach to me about loss! How would you feel if I were to kill everyone you love?" Kakashi was quiet. Sasuke, thinking it was because he had struck a nerve, continued. "How far would you stray from your preachings then?"

"That would work, I admit. However, I don't have any people I love." Sasuke glared at him with absolute hatred. Kakashi elaborated. "Because they have all been killed already."

Sasuke fell quiet.

"I've lived in a long and hard era, and I understand the pain of loss just as well as you do." He took hold of the boy's chin and lifted his face to look him in the eye again. "But while we aren't lucky by any stretch of the imagination, we aren't the worst ones off. After all, we have both found people to care for again, have we not?"

Sakura's and Naruto's faces flashed before Sasuke's eyes. From that hospital bed, how Sakura's eyes shone with blatant worry and relief that he had woken and Naruto's badly hidden attempts to hide his own relief.

The wires fell away. Kakashi held out his hand. "Has the weight on your shoulders become too much again?"

Sasuke started and looked hesitantly at Kakashi's hand. The older man made no move to pressure him to take the offer, just patiently held it out, waiting for the Genin to choose.

Sasuke took it. Kakashi pulled him up and whisked him away to his apartment before Orochimaru's lackeys could snap him up.

They never got the chance.

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AN: Righty-O, any questions? This story will have four chapters, which will come sooner or later depending on how busy I am.


	2. Sakura

Author's note: Sigh, still on my phone here...

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It took quite a bit of prompting and not so subtle hints to both boys on Kakashi's part, but they eventually found themselves sparring in the training grounds, trying to beat the bloody pulp out of the other when the floodgates opened. Sasuke had screamed his frustrations and insecurities, his rage at his own weakness and his wish for strength so he could finally lay his demons to rest.

He looked up when he felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you out of your mind teme?" He could hear disbelief in Naruto's voice. "As far as I could remember the only thing I had wanted was for you to acknowledge me. Hell, you don't know half the shit I did to try and catch up to you. I even endured that perverted Sannin for that! Why is it so hard for you to accept that I want you to view me as your friend, as your equal?"

"Because if I do," Sasuke looked down, rain pouring down his face and hiding his tears, "then I will deny every reason I had for living this long."

"That doesn't have to change!" Naruto grabbed his shoulders and shook him, trying to make him understand. "You can still go after that bastard and get him back for what he did to your clan, but this time you can count on us to help! That's what friends are for; to stand by you when you need it the most!"

Sasuke looked at him as if seeing him in new light. "But I don't know how to let you."

"Then you will learn." Naruto bumped their foreheads, the metal of their headbands clinking. "I can show you how. We can all show you. And if worst comes to worst, you can copy us with your Sharingan."

For the first time in days, Sasuke cracked a smile. Naruto grinned in return. The hesitant smile became a hesitant laugh. And soon, they stood in the ruined training ground, forehead to forehead laughing straight from their hearts.

From the cover of the trees, Sakura watched, and found that there were tears in her eyes too.

Kakashi, who had come running when he had sensed Chidoris and Rasengans being thrown around, found a completely different mess to sort out that the one he expected. While the tears the rain hid from the boys' faces were those of relief and happiness, the ones running down Sakura's face were anything but. She was so absorbed in her misery she didn't even notice her mentor until he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Is that what you want as well?"

She shook her head. "Want. That's all I come down to, isn't it? Wanting."

Being a man well versed in literature Kakashi didn't miss the double meaning. She wanted but was wanting. She yearned for the closeness the boys shared yet found herself deficient in something she needed to get it.

Kakashi remembered his original assessment of her and not for the first time wished he wasn't so damn right all the time.

"Come on," he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her back towards the village, "there's no need for all three of you to get colds."

Sakura allowed Kakashi to guide her back, feeling numb in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

Jiraya had wasted as little time as possible in getting Naruto packed up and ready to go on a training trip. But he was nearly knocked on his ass when Naruto dug in his heels and refused to go without Sasuke. Kakashi had expected something like that to happen (he was the one who planted the seeds of that idea after all) but it threw both Jiraya and Sasuke for a loop.

"How am I supposed to know if I'm getting stronger if you're not there to measure up against?!" Naruto voiced his protests loud enough for the entire village to hear. "And I'm sure as Hell not letting you stay as you are while Pervert Sannin is teaching me cool new techniques! I want to beat you properly!"

Those words were all it took for Sasuke to agree, and faced with two boys whose heads were harder than rocks Jiraya eventually threw his hands in the air, conceding that it would at least be good motivation for both of them.

Their goodbyes were brief, and the boys were completely oblivious to Sakura's pain as they left her at the gates of Konoha. But Kakashi saw. In Sakura he saw pain that could tear one's heart, and if he didn't put a stop to it Team 7 would fall apart just as surely as it would have if Sasuke had torn it.

A wink and a nudge, and Sakura went to Tsunade, asking to be trained as her apprentice to be a medical ninja. Tsunade saw the pain the girl harbored, saw the determination in her eyes and agreed.

For a little over a year Sakura had trained like a woman possessed. Kakashi watched her with increasing worry as the circles under her eyes grew bigger and dark enough to rival Gaara's, and her skin assumed an almost grayish pallor. People noticed, but they wrote it off as her training to much. Kakashi saw the truth though: she was suffering.

Determined to get to the bottom of the problem he appeared in her way as she was going to the library after her training session with Tsunade. He had tried the same thing on the path she would take to go home, but he quickly realized that she hadn't even been to her house in days. She showered at the hospital and slept in the library. Whatever was bothering her was grave indeed.

It took coaxing and cajoling and guilt tripping but she let herself be dragged to Kakashi's apartment, on the grounds that her mentor was lonely and she could at least remind him that not all three of his Genin were gone for such a long time.

It was the last sentence that did the trick, and it cast a shadow over her face. Kakashi was beginning to suspect what the problem was, and he didn't like it in the least.

As soon as he had her seated at the kitchen table he pulled out a jug of sake. She made a face at it, but Kakashi raised his hand before she could protest.

"You're finally old enough to drink and this is a social activity. And quite frankly my dear, you look like you need it." He said as he handed her a glass.

She took it without complaint.

Four glasses later Kakashi felt it was safe to probe. "Care to tell me why are you having trouble sleeping?"

"I'm not." The protest came too quick for it to be true. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "The circles under your eyes tell a different story."

"That's not because I'm having trouble falling asleep, it's because I'm having trouble staying awake." She was almost remarkably eloquent considering how drunk she must have been. Actually, it seemed she spoke better when she was drunk, probably because she didn't have the capacity of mind to dumb down her sentences.

Kakashi pushed another glass towards her. "If I may ask, my dear, what is so important that you feel you have to forfeit sleep to achieve it?"

"I can't fall behind. Not more than I already have." She downed the rest of the glass. "I'm already lacking. If I don't study hard and train I'll be left behind. I won't be enough."

Kakashi had already suspected what her issues stemmed from, but to hear her talk about herself like that in such a matter-of-fact tone made Kakashi's heart nearly bleed for her. "Why would you ever think you're not enough?"

"I don't think, I know." Her voice was getting strained. "I've never been enough, never on par with them. Not with the boys, not with Ino, not with anyone! I've been trying to get Sasuke's attention for as long as I can remember, and then Naruto swoops in and without even trying has all of Sasuke's focus on him. I try but I'm never enough! I'm always lacking, always wanting in every sense of the word! I can't take it anymore!"

The glass shattered in her hand just as angry tears started falling from her eyes. Luckily for her, she had already trained her chakra to the point it automatically hardened her hand but Kakashi quickly unwrapped her fingers from the broken glass before she could actually cut herself.

Holding her dainty but calloused hand in both of his, he stroked the back of it with his thumb. "How can you think that of yourself?"

"It's the truth." Sakura sniffed, but she didn't pull her hand away. "I can see it in the mirror just fine."

"Then you need to get a new mirror, because that one is clearly a rotten liar." He gripped her chin lightly and raised her eyes to look into his. "Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see a strong, generous, beautiful and driven kunoichi with a heart as pure and noble as gold. If you ask the boys they would agree with me whole heartedly. Anyone can see your true worth if only they bother to look. I just don't understand why you simply refuse to."

She snorted inelegantly but her face had turned as pink as her hair. "There is no need to lie to make me feel better Kakashi-sensei."

"Look me in the eye and tell me if I'm lying." When he had all of her attention on him he repeated. "You are a beautiful, courageous and wonderful woman, and anyone would be a fool to think otherwise."

Something burned in her eyes then, and Kakashi recognized it. "Prove it." She whispered with her eyes half lidded, doing nothing to dislodge Kakashi's hand from her chin.

Not looking away and not hesitating for a second Kakashi lowered his mask. Sakura's eyes widened in shock but before she could so much as say a word Kakashi leaned in and kissed her straight on the lips. She gave a little surprised moan but only a few seconds later she realized what was happening and she kissed back.

When they broke apart for air Sakura stared at her first glimpse of her mentor's face in amazement, both at what she was seeing and at what was happening. Kakashi stood up then and started walking away. Before she could get her mind back in order he stopped halfway to his bedroom and offered her a hand to take, his eye saying 'let me show you'.

Just like Sasuke, she took it.

Unlike Sasuke, who had to have control taken out of his hands for even a short time, Sakura had to be worshipped. Either that or be loved, and Kakashi had too many of his own issues to attempt the latter, but the former was easy enough. Despite her age Sakura already had the body of a woman, covered with lean, tight muscles from endless training. He treated her as if she were a Goddess of Beauty herself, worshipped her with fingers and tongue while she locked her arms around his neck and shook herself to pieces. He debated for two seconds about whether or not to go all the way, but he took the thighs clamping down on his hips as a sign for 'go ahead'.

The next morning he left the bed quietly, dressed himself in his pants and mask, thought about the shirt and then forgone it, and left Sakura to sleep in while he made breakfast for two. Sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and letting the smell of breakfast rouse his bedmate, Kakashi contemplated his actions and what her reaction would be. Despite what he had said, there was a chance he was wrong, that she would see it as him getting her drunk and having his wicked way with her and then she would hate him just as much as Sasuke would have if he had been wrong back then.

The doors of Kakashi's bedroom creaked open and Sakura came out, dressed in only her panties and camisole, hand glowing with healing chakra rubbing at her forehead and the other holding the rest of her clothes. She was startled a bit when she saw her mentor sitting at the table barefoot and shirtless, smiling and offering her a coffee cup.

She hesitated for a few seconds, during which Kakashi patiently held out the coffee cup like he had held out his hand last night: offering but leaving her with the option to refuse.

She left her clothes on the backrest of the chair, sat down and accepted the coffee with a small smile and a quiet 'Thank you'.

Kakashi didn't need to be a genius to know she wasn't thanking him just for the coffee.

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AN: I am almost embarresed to admit how motivating those reviews are.


	3. Naruto

Author's note: I'll be super busy with a project I have to hand in next week and since I don't dare send my Beta another chapter of this I thought I might as well sit down and crank out the rest of this story in one go so I can go back and focus on my studies. One more chapter to go.

To my Guest reviewer **Kaelin** : I'm sorry to have disappointed you with this story, and I realize you raised a valid question. If this had been a proper story and not a spur-of-the-moment idea I would have probably delved into that issue and a whole lot more of them. As it is, if I wanted to keep the chapters at a certain length I couldn't do much more than scratch the surface. If I ever write a proper Naruto story I will try to do better.

That said, I think my thumbs will fall off. Typing so much on a touch screen is hard. At least I had a keyboard for the story itself or it would never be done.

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Even three years later both Sasuke and Sakura still sought him out on occasion, Sasuke when Itachi's words came back to haunt him and Sakura when her insecurities started creeping up her spine. If Kakashi wasn't as paranoid, neurotic and meticulous as he was there was no way he could have hidden it from them for over three years. But because he was _that_ cautious, both of his former Genin, now proud Chuunin remained oblivious about the other's involvement with their teacher, and they sure as Hell didn't mention it to each other. Yet Kakashi still had to constantly assure his paranoia that he wasn't missing anything that would give him away.

Itachi was less than pleased that Sasuke decided to all but ignore his teachings, but there was a sort of strange pride in his voice when Sasuke all but screamed at him that he had no intention of turning into his brother, that he would carve his own path, one he could traverse with each of his friends on his arm and the people he cared about walking it with him.

That day, Itachi died with a smile on his face and fingers on Sasuke's forehead. It made it even harder for Sasuke to ask Tsunade to transplant his eyes into Sasuke's own. Actually, Tsunade offered it herself, but if it wasn't for Danzo's coaxing and assurances she wouldn't have dared. Kakashi knew straight away that the man had ulterior motives but held his tongue for the moment.

The day before the surgery Sasuke appeared on Kakashi's window in tears. So his teacher helped in the only way he knew how: he tied him to the bed and rendered him incapable of thinking straight, told him in no uncertain terms with both words and hands that he was doing the right thing. He had to buy a new headboard the next day but as Sasuke went to his surgery without becoming a missing nin afterwards, Kakashi felt it was a sacrifice worth making. But he had no time to revel in his victory before he had another clusterfuck to sort.

The news of Jiraya's death had reached Konoha.

Naruto, who had nothing before and therefore didn't deal well with losing what little he had, had disappeared for three days. Both Sasuke and Sakura were frantic and beside themselves with worry. They scoured every single place Naruto had ever stepped foot on, ran themselves ragged, but to no avail.

In their defense, it took two days for even Kakashi to be hit with an epiphany.

He went to the little town where Naruto and Jiraya had first gone to look for Tsunade. He found the boy, now a young man sitting on top of a high wall, petting a stray tabby and looking at nothing. Kakashi said nothing, just sat next to him in silence. He supposed it was because he smelled like Nin dogs that the cat looked at him distrustfully, rubbed against Naruto one last time, and then sauntered away.

Naruto looked like a child abandoned by his parents as he watched it leave. "That's what it all boils down to? Everyone you love will one day abandon you, one way or another."

Kakashi said nothing, just wrapped his arm around his orange shoulders and pulled him to lean on his side. At first Naruto had tensed but as Kakashi made no move to either speak or change their position he hesitantly gripped the back of his teacher's uniform, holding it so tightly Kakashi suspected he would need to sew up some tears when they got back home. It was as if he was afraid Kakashi would pull away if he did something wrong.

As he gave Naruto the comfort he so desperately craved he remembered his first impression of the young man, then a boy, back on the roof of the academy and nearly sighed out loud. Sometimes he absolutely hated being so right all the time. All his life Naruto had wanted only two things and every single goal he ever had had been merely an extension of the need for those two: love and attention.

He had sought attention with his sunny smiles, with his orange clothes, with his proclamations that he would be the next Hokage and with his generally loud and boisterous personality. It was exactly because of those things that it never occurred to Kakashi that a child who grew up without an ounce of love and affection wouldn't know how to accept it when it was offered as an adult. So instead of running to his friends in his time of mourning he ran away to a place to relieve what little good memories he cherished.

"May I ask why you are here instead of at Konoha, drinking yourself and your teammates into oblivion?" Naruto couldn't help but crack a smile at the old inside joke. Sakura had once asked Kakashi how he dealt with loss. Kakashi had stopped in the middle of the path abruptly, assumed his thinking pose, complete with a narrowed eye and with his finger on his chin. His three Genin had stopped as well and waited with baited breath for whatever wise words their teacher would impart them with.

"You take the comrades you have left, go to a bar and then you all drink yourselves into oblivion and have a drunken orgy." At the time they had collectively sweat dropped and wrote it off as their teacher being a raging pervert again, then Naruto had given them all mental scarring when he asked if Kakashi was insinuating that he had slept with Gai.

Kakashi looked at him flatly. Til' this day, nobody knew if it was true or not and nobody wanted to have nightmares enough to go ask Konoha's Green Beast.

"Even if it would help, I doubt either Sasuke or Sakura would agree." Naruto snorted. "They would sooner rip my guts out that even consider it." But there was a subtle hint of yearning in his voice, the one that assured Kakashi that if he thought for even a moment he could be that close to the people he cared about in such a way he would take that chance, hug it and never let it go.

Kakashi carefully kept his voice casual. "Oh? I'm hurt. And here I thought you considered me a comrade as well."

Kakashi already knew that Naruto was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for. They were blindsided by his straightforwardness and his conviction that anything could be solved by throwing a few Rasengans at it and they completely missed the number of gears turning in between his ears. In his defense, next to Sasuke's quiet genius and Sakura's endless knowledge it was easy to overlook his own intelect.

It took a few seconds but Kakashi knew Naruto had realized what he was offering by the way he had frozen against Kakashi's side. He let him process that for nearly a minute before Naruto looked up at him, clearly asking him if he was really offering what he thought he was. It amused the Jounin slightly that he hadn't considered the possibility that Kakashi was lying to him. On the one hand, it was never good for a ninja to be too trusting, and on the other it spoke volumes just how much of that trust Naruto placed in his teacher.

Kakashi's arm lowered from Naruto's shoulder to his hip, pressing lightly into the hollow between his hipbone and buttock. "I saw an inn with a bar on the way here." Just like with Sasuke and Sakura Kakashi made sure there wasn't even a note of pressure in his voice. He offered a choice, it was always up to them to take it or not.

And just like Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto looked at Kakashi hesitantly, measuring his offer and all it entailed. Naruto had actually taken longer to consider it that the other two, his eyes even glazing over for a few seconds as if he receded to his own head to consider it. But when he looked back into Kakashi's eye, he nodded his assent and even moved his own hand from fisting into the Jounin's uniform to around his waist.

Kakashi led them to the promised inn like that, Naruto pressed to his side and refusing to let go. They sat at the bar and while Naruto was downing every drop of alcohol he could get his hands on Kakashi prompted him to tell him about Jiraya. It didn't matter that most of what Naruto was telling him he already knew, it was the fondness with which Naruto talked about the only father figure he ever knew that counted. And while Kakashi's heart ached that his own mentor would never see the man his son had become he didn't say a word.

The blond drank far more alcohol than Sakura had, but with his heightened metabolism and the Nine-tails' chakra he was still more sober than she had been. Once Kakashi judged that had had enough he booked a room above the bar and steered him up the stairs. When the door closed behind them Naruto grabbed the hem of Kakashi's shirt and looked up at him oddly.

For a moment the scarecrow thought he was having second thoughts, and wondered if he should abort this mission before he caused a mess he couldn't fix. But Naruto wasn't looking at him in doubt, but in curiosity and almost wonder. Kakashi stood still as Naruto's fingers slowly rose to his face and gripped the edge of his mask. It was only then that Naruto hesitated and his hand froze, but Kakashi smiled lightly and gripped his wrist to guide it and pull down the black mask.

Naruto stared at him in shock. "Wow. You're actually kinda' hot." Kakashi laughed and led him to the bed.

The jounin would be hard pressed to admit it even under torture, but out of the three of his students he found sex with Naruto to be the most to his liking. The blond fucked the same way he fought: forceful, playful and with not a little amount of biting. Not to mention the kid absolutely oozed stamina. Kakashi had a feeling he had gotten to top him simply because the blond had no idea how. The scarecrow still ended up covered in bite and claw marks all over his back, neck, shoulders and chest.

The only thing that threw him for a loop was when they had finished round three Naruto had wrapped himself around Kakashi like an octopus and wordlessly demanded to be cuddled. Kakashi wasn't used to it but he wrapped his arms around his student and rested his chin atop the blond head, scratching his scalp lightly. He could have sworn Naruto had purred.

Unfortunately, it also left his body on high alert. Which left him with far too much time to think about his actions and their consequences.

He was sleeping with all three of his students now. Technically he had offered and they all accepted, and when the repeat performances occurred they were always the ones to seek him out, not the other way around. But it didn't change the fact that all three had absolutely no idea about each other and now with Naruto in the equation the chances of them finding out increased exponentially. Kakashi could just imagine how they would react if they found out: whatever trust they placed in him and each other would be broken and everything Kakashi had strived to fix _by_ initiating things this way would be ruined.

Kakashi knew he had to find a way to break it to them slowly, preferably when they all found their significant others and no longer depended on Kakashi for stability. But unfortunately those plans had to wait. They had the beginnings of war on their hands.

Kakashi finally managed to settle down and fall asleep with the blond in his arms. Yes, it could wait.

When they returned to Konoha Sakura became nothing but a pink blur as she slammed all of her weight into Naruto and knocked him back on the ground, squeezing the living daylights out of him and yelling at him for making them worry so much.

The moment Naruto's head stopped spinning he realized he had Sakura all but on his lap hugging him tight enough to break his ribs. He grinned the sunniest grin he could and hugged her back just as tightly. Over her shoulder he could see Sasuke glaring at him in an attempt to hide that he was just as worried as Sakura was. But Naruto had seen that expression on his own face too many times to mistake it for anything else.

"What? Ya wanna join in?" Naruto asked teasingly but held out his hand in honest invitation. Sasuke's cheeks had pinked but he did take Naruto's hand, even if he only pulled the two of them to their feet.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked, and the concern in his voice was genuine.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei found me and screwed my head on straight." Naruto jabbed a finger at their teacher, who had buried his nose in Icha Icha paradise in an attempt to become invisible. Apparently it didn't work because while Sasuke took Naruto's words at face value Sakura looked at their teacher with quiet suspicion in her eyes, but eventually dismissed it in favor of asking Naruto where he had been.

Kakashi realized it would be harder breaking it to them that he had realized.

* * *

AN: Safe to say who's next.


	4. Kakashi

Author's note: Last one! Sort of an Epilogue.

* * *

It was only days later that Naruto snuck into his apartment, telling him that he was going to the Frog mountain to learn Senjutsu. With the threat of the Akatsuki hanging over their heads Kakashi wasn't happy to see him go, but any skills the blond learned during his time on the mountain would undoubtedly be powerful, and likely crucial to their victory. He told Naruto as much and his student had beamed at him.

But instead of leaving afterwards to get started on his journey Naruto had stood in his kitchen, clearly trying to say something but his mouth wouldn't listen to him. Kakashi called on his personal Well of Infinite Patience TM and waited for him to finally say what he wanted, even though he had more than a strong suspicion what it was the blond was going to ask of him.

And sure enough Naruto came to stand right in front of Kakashi and gripped the edge of his uniform, just as he had done in the room of that inn. "Can we be sober this time?"

Kakashi huffed a short laugh. And pulled down his mask.

Afterwards, Naruto had once again fallen asleep tangled up in the sheets and his teacher's limbs. It was something Kakashi was unused to. Sakura often stayed over for breakfast and they would talk, mostly about training and her studies, and Kakashi's sermons were practically foreplay for him and Sasuke. Even Kakashi's past partners weren't much for post-coital cuddling. Naruto thought sex only half-done without it, and refused to let go without at least solid thirty minutes of it. Most of the time he was even quiet, which anyone who knew the blond knew was a rarity. And the second time around Kakashi had less trouble going to sleep with his body interlaced with someone else's.

He fell asleep wondering how to untangle himself from the mess he made.

Naruto left the next day in the morning and barely came back in time to stop Pein from killing everyone. But then Tsunade was put in a coma and Danzo was appointed Sixth Hokage, and Madara Uchiha had declared war on all ninja, marking the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War.

And during that time, there wasn't much thinking about bringing up issues they might not live to be mad about.

But month later the Fourth Great Ninja War was declared the shortest in history, for it ended with the death of Kaguya. Sasuke had gained the Rinnegan, Sakura had activated the Strength of a Hundred Seal, Kurama let himself be sealed back inside Naruto and Kakashi was appointed Hokage.

Of course, all of their accomplishments stacked together gave them absolutely no excuse not to go get drunk and celebrate. So Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura found themselves sitting at a relatively secluded table in the back of a bar, groaning how they should have know by now that Kakashi was going to be late. Sakura, who was already on her second jug of sake because there was no way they were staying sober for long enough to wait on their perpetually late teacher, had muttered that when the time came for Kakashi to pass on he would be late several years simply because he had gotten lost on the road of life literally this time.

The boys stared at her, their lowered mental faculties trying to make sense of Sakura's words. She just sighed in exasperation, called them illiterate idiots and knocked back another shot. Of course, now that they were on the subject of Kakashi and all of them were drunk off their asses, the one thing they shared in common couldn't remain unmentioned.

"You did it too?!" Sasuke and Sakura nearly screamed at Naruto in unison, then promptly looked at each other in horror once they realized what the other had said.

"Well, yeah." Naruto took another swig of his drink. "I thought you guys knew."

"Knew what?" Sasuke spat in anger. "That apparently out dearest _teacher_ is merely a cradle robber?" His eyes were blazing red and purple in anger. Sakura was too shocked to speak for a moment but she managed to gather her wits. "H-how long-?"

"Have I known?" Naruto grinned drunkenly. "Actually, Kurama figured it out first, but I only realized what he meant, like, two years later. I'm not exactly on par with an Inuzuka but my nose is still pretty sensitive. I first started smelling it on Sasuke when we were thirteen-" At this Sakura blanched and Sasuke's face turned red. "-and I only started figuring it out when we came back from our training trip with Pervert Sannin and I smelled it on Sakura as well." Then their colorings reversed.

"Nobody mentioned it so I thought it was out of privacy because, come on, Kakashi has _dogs_ as Ninken, I thought there was no way he would have overlooked the scent thing if he was trying to hide it." The blond shrugged. "I can guess why he did it since I was pretty down in the dumps myself when he offered it to me, but since Sasuke was always less snappy and barky when he smelled like that and Sakura was smiling more and swung her hips when she walked," Sakura blushed anew at his words, "I figured that if he was doing it right with you two he could help me as well. Kurama certainly didn't say no when I asked him."

That was the thing with Naruto: he was sometimes so stereotypically blonde that they forgot he had a solid brain inside his skull, even though he didn't like using it often. His two comrades looked at each other with silent questions in their eyes and when their gazes met they realized Naruto was telling the truth. _They_ were the ones who sought out Kakashi, and every time they did the Jounin's complete focus was on them, testing and probing and _looking for ways to mend them._ Sex was actually a very minor part of their 'covert affairs'. Kakashi hadn't done what he did simply because he wanted someone young in his bed; he had done it to help them in his own roundabout way.

They just felt a bit stupid that Naruto had to point it out to them.

"So," Naruto grabbed another mug, this time filled with beer. "A toast to our dearest teacher?" He raised his mug and Sasuke and Sakura both grabbed one of their own from the pile of liquor and they toasted and drank some more. The next hour was filled with stories of why and what Kakashi had done to and for them, and once they were sloshed enough they started with the sex-stories.

"Wait, was that the day you couldn't sit without squirming every five minutes?" The blush that was becoming a permanent fixture on Sasuke's face was all the answer the blond needed. He burst out laughing and even Sakura couldn't help but giggle herself into hiccups.

"Oh man, this makes me feel bad for only having two stories to share." Naruto finally righted himself back onto the barstool.

"Then I guess you'll just have to make more." Sasuke had said it grumpily but it sent Naruto falling from the chair again in a peal of laughter.

The bell above the door of the bar chimed and all three of the newly minted heroes turned around to see the newcomer and grinned collectively when they noticed it was their wayward teacher, looking slightly worse for wear even with the Hokage hat hiding even more of his features.

Naruto waved him over. "Oi, Kakashi-Sensei, come drink with us! We were just talking about you."

Kakashi sighed in resignation and walked towards their table looking for all the world like he was walking to his execution. "Kids," he started in a grave voice. "I have something to tell you. Something I should have told you long before now."

His three students looked at each other and grinned evilly. Naruto turned to Kakashi with a leer. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, wanna have that drunken orgy now?"

The flabbergasted look on Kakashi's face sent all three of them into a new round of laughter.

 _Fin_

* * *

 _AN: This may be done, but feel free to tell me your opinions, likes and dislikes and critiques. I'm always open to suggestions too._

 _Ahh, no words can describe the pleasure of clicking that 'Complete' button on the story status._


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